blog
If you've been quoted for a WordPress website before, there's a good chance someone mentioned Divi, Elementor or WPBakery. These tools are everywhere. They promise quick results, visual flexibility, and the ability to build your own website with a drag-and-drop interface. We understand the appeal — but at Free Thinking Design, we've made a deliberate choice not to use them. Here's why, and what we do instead.
The problem with page builders
Tools like Divi work by generating code around your content as you design. Every section, column and button you drop onto the page adds a layer of markup and styling on top of your site. The result is a website that looks fine on the surface but is carrying a significant amount of weight underneath.
Performance is the most immediate issue. Divi and similar builders load their own JavaScript and CSS on every page — regardless of whether that page actually uses all of their features. Research has shown that a Divi-built page can generate more than thirteen times the amount of CSS code compared to an equivalent page built cleanly. That directly affects your page load speed, and since Google now uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, slower sites can mean lower positions in search results.
Then there's the question of lock-in. Content built with Divi is wrapped in its own shortcodes and proprietary markup. If you ever want to switch agencies, change themes, or move to a different approach entirely, you'll find your content is essentially inseparable from the builder. Migrating away from Divi is rarely a small job — in many cases it means rebuilding the site from scratch.
Over time, active Divi sites also accumulate database bloat. Revisions, settings, unused templates and layout data quietly pile up. Sites that performed reasonably well at launch can become noticeably slow years later — not because anything has obviously gone wrong, but because of what's been building up behind the scenes.
What we build instead
Rather than reaching for a page builder, we build custom WordPress themes using Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) with flexible content rows. The idea is straightforward: instead of a generic drag-and-drop canvas, your site has a set of purpose-built content blocks — an intro section, a text and image row, a team grid, a call to action — each one designed and built specifically for your site.
These blocks are built in code, not assembled through a visual interface, which means there's no generated markup, no unnecessary CSS, and no dependency on a third-party tool to keep your site running. It's clean, purposeful code that does exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
Beyond the theme itself, we're comfortable building custom plugins and integrations where your project calls for it — whether that's connecting to a CRM, a booking system, a data feed, or something more bespoke. We don't reach for an off-the-shelf plugin where custom logic is the better fit.
What it's like to edit your site
When you log in to a WordPress site we've built, you'll find a clean, structured editing experience. Rather than a blank canvas, you'll see the content blocks your site supports — you can add and reorder them, fill in the right fields for each one, and publish changes without needing to think about layout or design.
It's less visually exciting than dragging and dropping, but it's considerably harder to break. The structure is intentional: the fields you see are the fields your content needs, and the design takes care of itself. There's no risk of accidentally stretching an image, breaking a layout, or introducing a rogue font size somewhere it shouldn't be.
We also make use of custom post types where your content warrants it. If your business has a team, a portfolio, a list of services, or a set of case studies, those live as their own structured content type with appropriate fields — not shoehorned into a generic page template.
Performance that shows up where it matters
Because we're not loading a builder's worth of CSS and JavaScript on every request, our WordPress builds tend to perform well on Core Web Vitals — Google's measure of real-world page experience that now factors into search rankings. A faster site also means lower bounce rates and a better experience for your visitors, regardless of where your traffic comes from.
We're not promising perfect scores — performance depends on many factors, including hosting, images and third-party scripts — but starting from a clean codebase puts you in a significantly better position than starting from a page builder.
Built to last
A custom theme and structured content approach makes your site considerably easier to build on over time. Adding a new content type, integrating a new system, or passing the project to another developer are all more straightforward when the codebase is clean and well-organised.
We build things to be maintainable — whether that maintenance is carried out by us or someone else. There are no proprietary tools required, and no third-party subscription standing between you and a functioning website.
Is it right for every project?
Honestly, no. For a small, short-lived website with a tight budget and a short shelf life, a page builder might be the pragmatic choice. But for businesses that want a website that performs well, holds up over time, and doesn't create unexpected problems further down the line — we think the custom approach is worth the extra time it takes to build.
It's not about being precious about code. It's about building something that works properly.